Talia Trackim loves Thursdays. It's the day when the Syracuse University dining hall she frequents serves chicken tenders with macaroni and cheese.

The food service staff make gluten-free versions of the two comfort foods the sophomore from Coopersburg, Pennsylvania, can actually eat. Trackim has celiac disease, an autoimmune disease that makes her extremely sensitive to gluten found in certain grains, including those used for traditional pasta and poultry breading.

Syracuse's accommodating menu is the new normal at college campus dining halls. Gone are the days of gummy stews, carb-packed casseroles and tasteless soups that had students craving the prospect of home cooking during Thanksgiving break.

Universities now cater to a wide variety of diets, such as vegan and locavore, and today’s college “cafs” resemble fast-casual chain restaurants with a focus on healthy, protein- and vegetable-centric, customizable dishes.

The emphasis on BLTs as well as Ph.D.s has made higher-education food service an estimated $18 billion industry, according to Technomic. That's up from $12.4 billion a decade ago and close to $1.89 billion in 1972, when the Chicago-based food industry research firm started tracking it. In 2019, the industry is expected to approach $18.7 billion.

The University of Cincinnati's campus dining program serves a custom bear claw pastry. The school mascot is the bearcat and the cherry-chocolate flavor reference the school colors, red and black.

Jonathan Hunt, University of Cincinnati

"Food is a differentiator," Technomic senior principal David Henkes said. "It's a recruitment tool. It's table stakes now. It's an expectation, as every university raises its game across the board."

In an era when colleges are using everything from their fitness facilities to luxury dorms to lure students, high schoolers can turn to a variety of online sources to scan college food ratings as they make their application choices.

Food is "part of decision for a lot of people," said Katy Wahlke, the University of Cincinnati's food services program director. "It's part of their experience every day. It’s part of what they look forward to. It can make it or break it if they're lining up two schools and all things being equal."

For some students, it's a concern about allergies, such as nuts, dairy or soy. Others are committed to eating only local foods. Another group has religious dietary restrictions, such as halal and kosher. All want to be sure their food regimens, whether it's vegetarian or keto, are addressed.

One out of 3 Americans follows a specific lifestyle diet, according to the International Food Information Council Foundation, which found that the number is even higher among those ages 18 to 34.

"There's not as much variety like there is for normal students, but for me, having celiac disease, a lot of people don’t know what it is or it's not taken seriously," Trackim said. "Having food cooked on a separate line meant more to me than having variety."

The 19-year-old Syracuse student said the school, which runs all of its own dining halls, does a great job of keeping gluten-free safe for those who need it. The menu is designed to parallel what unrestricted students are served, and signs explain that diners must use a new plate if they want a gluten-free side dish or entrée to avoid cross-contamination via serving utensils.

This generation of students, used to international flavors and dining out with their parents or friends, have more sophisticated palettes than their predecessors. Universities use Korean barbecue, vegan pasta bars and mezze platters to compete for students the same way they boast to prospective students about instructor-to-student ratios, semesters abroad options and fitness centers.

At most schools, freshmen are required to live on campus in kitchen-less dorms and pay for a dining plan, but upperclassmen are free agents. Those first-years' average cost of food – the "board" in the classic "room and board" term – was $4,650 during the 2015-2016 academic year versus $3,190 in 1986-1987, according to the U.S Department of Education. Dining plans don't cover meals during the summer or school breaks.

Compare that to $3,829, which the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found was the average annual spending on food by one American in 2016.

While snazzy menu extras may explain some of the difference between what students and nonstudents pay, university meal plans must cover extras that nonstudents don't have to deal with, like cafeteria workers' salaries and dining hall utility bills.

At the University of Cincinnati, 6,500 students out of 40,000 are on the meal plan, which is serviced by Aramark, one of the three food-service giants with contracts on U.S. college campuses. The menu includes ramen bowls, tapas and a custom cherry-chocolate bear claw pastry – an homage to the school colors of red and black and the mascot, the Bearcat.

Food may not be as big as football at Texas Christian University, but campus dining, run by another big food service player, Sodexo, is still important. It's mentioned in both digital and hard copy recruitment brochures and on the virtual and in-person campus tours, according to spokeswoman Holly Ellman.

"The food is so good many faculty and staff members purchase a (meal) plan," she said.

College dining halls that cater to dietary needs are very important to Talia Trackim, a Syracuse University sophomore who has celiac disease.

Lexi Brown

That menus are tasty and carefully curated is no accident.

College food operations need to sharpen their game because an increasing number of national restaurant chains are opening on or near campuses. Food deliverers, including Uber Eats and DoorDash, bring fare from local eateries' to the quad and dorm rooms.

School cafeterias must please Generation Z students who grew up with higher expectations from having watched the Food Network and following food trends on Instagram.

Some Aramark campuses, for example, serve a spinach pesto flatbread melt and plant-based sushi, and Sodexo offers up Turkish dishes and chicken-and-waffle pop-ups.

"It’s a shifted landscape. We have to be as competitive as fast food and even fine dining. We want to retain that dollar and not have them go off campus for that experience," said Lisa Feldman, Sodexo's director of recipe management. "If you don't have something that’s the same or better, the student will go to the taco truck."

She said trends tend to bubble up faster at colleges because students are so active on social media. The company surveys students every semester and can implement a new dish in little as two months.

"Everybody from two-year technical colleges up to four-year Ivy league institutions wants to have a food program they can be proud of that drives satisfaction with their students," Technomic's Henkes said. "It's not only about providing an education anymore."